DREAMS

There are symbols found in the human unconscious that mean similar things to all of us. According to
Carl Jung, "We do not assume that each new-born animal creates its own instincts...and we must not
suppose that human individuals invent their specific human ways with every new birth. Like the instincts,
the collective thought patterns of the human mind are innate and inherited."
In their book Symbols of Transformation in Dreams, Jean Dalby Clift and Wallace B. Clift talk about water
as being a universal symbol that can represent various things. It one instance it creates an image of
change and fluidity. It is alive and full of energy. In another instance it is slow, quiet and steady.
Water can also be destructive as in the case of a tidal wave or flood. It is also seen as an essential
element of human life. It is often associated with rebirth because water is needed to make plants grow.
By looking into a body of water it is possible to see part way into its depth and for this reason it is often
associated with the unconscious.
Another universal symbol identified in the Clift's dream book is fire. It is seen to be alive and dancing,
changing continuously and yet constant. It has power and energy and it gives light. Although it burns and
destroys it can also be seen as a symbol of transformation or change.
Carl Jung reported that some of his patients had dreamed of fires and the images turned out to represent
fevers or diseases.
Other common symbols found in the unconscious are winter or ice and cold for death or sterility and light
and sun for warmth and life.
Animals are also common in dreams but they should be analyzed individually depending on the character
they portray in the dream and the association the dreamer has to them.
The meaning that any symbol takes on in your particular dream, can only be determined by you

Dream Analysis
There are a number of ways to remember your dreams so you can uncover their secret meaning. Most
experts will tell you to talk to yourself during the stage between waking and sleeping. This is when you're
just awakening and images start passing through your field of vision.
Tell yourself at this time to remember your dreams. Often the mere suggestion is enough to do the trick.
Sometimes though it doesn't work immediately and you have to keep making the suggestion to yourself
night after night before it finally works.
Once you have started to remember a few dreams, it is vitally important to record them instantly after
waking. The longer you wait to record them, the fewer details you will retain.
Edgar Cayce, the gifted psychic who always encouraged dream study, believed the best time to think
about your dream was before moving out of your sleep position. This is because your body helps you to
hold the dream in your mind. Once you have moved, it is far more difficult to remember the details. He felt
that even recording fragments of your dream would bring you great insights.
In The Dream Workbook, Jill Morris suggests going through the names of everyone in your family and of
all the people you work with. If you were dreaming of them, it will help jog your memory.
Once you have a recorded dream, what do you do with it?
There are many different ways to pull meaning out of dreams. Some of the most valuable methods have
come from the pioneers in the field. Freud created the method of free association and Jung the method of
amplification. Most other methods derive their concepts from these two ideas.
The free association method is used by first identifying a major symbol or character in your dream. Once
you have found it, write down what it signifies for you and what it makes you think of.
The amplification method also encourages you to write down the feelings and memories associated with
the symbol or character. The amplification process includes any historical or cultural meaning you have in
connection with it. During this process you can also have a conversation with the symbol and ask it what it
means. You can further ask it any questions you have. You would then find other symbols or characters in
the dream and then go through the same process with them.
I recently had a dream about a young girl who had climbed an extremely high tree in a wooded park. She
was swinging along the tops of the branches having the time of her life. I was walking by thinking how
dangerous it was and was terrified that she was going to fall.
In the process of analyzing this dream, I identified the young girl as the main character in the dream.
Thinking of her I Immediately relived the feelings she had as if they were my own. From this I realized she
was me and represented to me youth, joy, freedom, fun, and excitement. In the dream she was living
dangerously but didn't seem to care because her life was filled with so much joy and excitement.
In looking at the other character in the dream who was also me, I realized she represented the grownup,
responsible side of my character. Although she was walking safely on the ground she was burdened with
responsibility. The young girl in the trees captivated her but she felt control, burden, worry and fear. She
had no time for fun and excitement; instead she was anticipating trouble and worried about the young girl.
A main symbol in this dream is the tall trees. When I visualize trees I think of high places, strength,
wisdom, knowledge, reaching high up into the sky. They make me feel secure and supported. They
provide me with a healthy, beautiful, natural environment in which to play and live.
Now that I have dissected the main characters and symbol in the dream it becomes much easier to grasp
the meaning. As with most dreams I can pull meaning out of it on several different levels.
I can see immediately that the high trees represent high ideals or goals. The girl in me has no fear and
climbs up high and plays up there without worrying about a thing. Because of this, she is youthful, healthy
and happy. The grownup me is the one putting the breaks on climbing for my high goals because she is
afraid I will fall and hurt myself. This is the most obvious interpretation, but as you can see, it is
determined by my own response or reaction to the symbols. This is why it is so important to do your own
dream work. Someone else might determine other meaning from your symbols and read the dream
incorrectly.
I was also able to interpret the tree symbol not only as high goals, but also as a source of wisdom and
knowledge and support. This tree also represented my higher consciousness, the part of me that is
connected to the universe and that has access to the wisdom and knowledge of All That Is. This source in
my life was providing me with health, beauty and a natural environment. It was showing me that when I
climb up and strive to achieve my goals, I will also find a place which will provide everything I need for my
physical and spiritual health.
This is just one example of one dream and yet we have many dreams every night! If I can get this much
guidance from just one dream, imagine what insight you can get by recording your dreams regularly.
Dream researchers will tell you that if you develop the habit of recording your dreams, over time you will
get a much better perspective on your life in terms of where you are, where you were and where you are
headed with your emotional and spiritual development.
I also recommend getting a hold of any book on dream work or dream analysis. It is a good idea to spend
some time researching methods of dream analysis so that your mind becomes focused on the subject for
a period of time.

DREAM SHARING
Wounds
I had a dream that my son and I were shot twice in the upper chest and when I tried to call 911 no one
would answer. I tried at least 4 times and gave up then I said to my son we don't need to go to the
hospital anyway because we aren't bleeding anyway. I remember looking at the wounds in my dream and
they were closed with just a line like they were already healed. I never saw who ran up to us and shot us
and I never saw my sons face in the dream.
It sounds like you may have been wounded (maybe twice) by something. Your son might represent your
vulnerability. You are calling to the authorities for help but you are getting no answer. This could mean
that you are calling out to the controlling part of yourself for help, but you are not responding. The part of
your self that is in charge is not paying attention. Eventually you notice that your wound is partially healed
so you give up. You might be reminding yourself that there is a scar left over

Teeth
I had a dream about my teeth, there was one tooth and it was a little black and when I went to touch it I
pulled out a worm and my tooth on the inside was kind of green. I went to touch my tooth for the second
time and it was soft almost like it was melting away.
Any idea on what that could mean?
Here are some ideas about what the symbols in your dream might represent:
Teeth - smile, presentation, age, wisdom worm- parasite, decomposing green tooth- gone bad or rotten
soft tooth- weak, deteriorating
You must examine the symbols and see what they mean to you. Perhaps you see something about
yourself that is exposed publicly as beginning to decay. Part of it has already been destroyed and another
part of it is weakened and beginning to deteriorate.

Shoes
For about four years now since I was in grade 8 to the present I have been having this dream
occasionally that I am at school or on the bus and I have no shoes on and I am embarrassed about it and
I try and find them but I never do and sometimes while I’m looking for them really weird things happen on
the way. I have always wondered what this meant thank you for your help.
Your dream has some very interesting symbols in it. Shoes can represent a few things. They can
represent your own sense of your foundations or the basic principles you live by. It can also represent
spiritual foundations.
Having exposed feet can mean that you feel vulnerable or a lack of protection. Perhaps on a few
occasions, you have lost sight of your basic principles. Being on the bus or at school might represent
being out in the world on life's journey. Losing your foundations has left you feeling exposed, vulnerable,
unprotected and embarrassed.
In your dream you might be judging yourself. Embarrassment can represent your own sense of shame. Is
it possible that over the years you have done the odd thing that is against your basic principles of right
and wrong? Is your higher self trying to show you the error of your ways?
Having weird things happen while you are trying to find your principles kind of makes sense, doesn't it?
Having this dream repetitively means that you might want to use this type of dream as a red flag.
Whenever you dream it, think about what you have been doing in your life and whether or not you should
change things that don't feel right

Heaven and Hell

I recently had a dream involving heaven and hell. In the dream, which was very vivid and realistic, I was in
Heaven but only on a "trial period". I was trying desperately to stay there and not be sent to hell. It was
very stressful, and very eerie and I woke with a feeling of not having slept at all. I was unable to shake the
feeling of death and heaven and hell the whole day after the dream. I was wondering if the dream had a
direct association with death itself or is there another meaning it could have had?
Perhaps there is some situation in your life that you view as a beautiful, wonderful thing (heaven). For
some reason, you don't feel like you have secured this situation (trial period). Your dream seems to reflect
feelings of insecurity and fear of losing this great thing. The trial period might indicate that you feel you
have not been fully accepted in this wonderful place/relationship (whatever it might be) yet. The fact that
you were 'trying desperately' to stay might mean that you are resisting change or are afraid of the
consequences of change that might bring pain and suffering(hell).
Your feelings in your dream seem to be, stress, desperation, fear. You might want to try to meditate on
these feelings, has anything in your life caused you to experience these feelings lately?
Only you can tell whether or not these ideas ring true. If they don't, go back to the symbols and themes of
your dream (heaven, trial period, trying to stay, hell) and think about them or write about them. What do
they mean to you? Why did you use them? You can even ask the questions and just write down your
answers and see what comes up.
If these ideas do ring true, perhaps you are trying to face some fear in your life. Sometimes, if you go
back into your dream in your mind and re-write the dream, this time seeing what happens if........, it can be
very helpful. The beauty of facing fears in a dream is that you can always wake up.

DREAMS AND SYMBOLS

Snakes
“I keep having dreams about snakes. I've had them since I was little. They used to be in the backyard in
my dreams but now they're moving to different locations. Last night I had one where the snakes were in
the school and this kid that died in March was in it and he looked dead. What do the snakes mean? and
why do I keep having these dreams?”
Snakes are symbolic of different things. Your dream of the dead child inside the snake sounds
like a classic dream of the snake being a symbol of transformation. Snakes are often seen as symbols of
life, death and rebirth. In North American native tribes, the shedding of the snake's skin is associated with
life and a new beginning.
In writing about Snake Symbolism, Gillian Holloway, Ph.D. wrote, "People who are dying or who have lost
a loved one often dream of snakes, at or near the time of death. For whatever reason, these dreams
seem involved with the psychic awareness of the transition from this life to the next...."
Carl Jung talks about a similar connection between earth and heaven in his discussion on the snake as a
symbol for medicine. In Man and His Symbols, he writes, "perhaps the commonest dream symbol of
transcendence is the snake, as represented by the therapeutic symbol of the Roman god of medicine
Aeseulapius, which has survived to modern times as a sign of the medical profession. This was originally
a nonpoisonous tree snake; as we see it, coiled around the staff of the healing god, it seems to embody a
kind of mediation between earth and heaven."
Snakes are also seen as symbols representing evil. The bible uses the symbol of the serpent in the
Garden of Eden to represent Satan. In other cases the snakes is seen as a phallic symbol.
Recurring dreams indicate a fear or an unresolved issue. One way to deal with the recurring dream of the
snakes is to try lucid dreaming. This is when you become conscious in your dream and are aware that
you are dreaming. If you are able to do this, then ask the snakes what it is they want and why you keep
dreaming about them? If the snakes are hostile and you are afraid in the dream then face the snakes and
master the situation in some way. Seeing the dream through to the end is important in overcoming it.
You will have to look at your dream in its entire context and determine how you felt about the snakes in
the dream. You should also look at the other associations in the dream. You said they were in the
backyard. Why were they in the backyard? What sort of association do you have with the backyard that
might account for the snakes being there?

“I had a dream about two black snakes chasing me and one of them bit me then I woke up all sweaty.
Could you tell me the significance of the snakes?’
It would depend on the association you had with the dream. Did you struggle with the snake or
did it wither and die after it bit you? Gillian Holloway, Ph.D. identifies being bitten by a snake as meaning
different things. She says, "In many dreams a single snake will come to bite you, and you may in fact be
bitten after a brief struggle. To your amazement though, you will not die, and may find that the situation is
not as bad as you thought." According to Holloway you have this kind of dream if you are struggling with
some problem, relationship or challenge. "Such a snake-ordeal is an important signal that you are going
through a kind of initiation; a psychological and spiritual trial that has the potential to change your life for
the better if you deal with it bravely and with a clear heart. You may have to give up something you
thought you couldn't, or take a stand for your principles or faith."
If the snake withered and died after it bit you then it could be a dream of a sexual nature replicating the
male orgasm. Snakes can also indicate trouble in your life. It could mean that something is worrying you
and needs to be resolved by you

Death In Dreams
“I went on a vacation this summer to Maryland and one night while I was up there I had a Nightmare that
my step-mother killed my father and myself at the pool. I told my dad and now he jokes about the dream.
That was like 3 weeks ago, then last night I had another dream about her killing me. She like came in my
room threw me on the bed and choked me to the point that I died. I mean I don't get along with her, but
now because of these dreams I am afraid to be alone with her, because some people say dreams are
true. What does this mean? Please help me.”
Don't worry, dreams like this don't usually represent reality. People in your dreams often
represent different parts of yourself.
Death in a dream can mean the death or change to a part of your personality or the end of a certain
phase in your life. When you dream of your stepmother killing you and your father, perhaps you are
feeling that she has killed the way you and your father once were together. Perhaps you are afraid that
her presence will kill some part of you or the way you once lived.
What was the strongest feeling in your dream? Was it fear? Anger? Try to remember how you felt. Since
you have had this dream more than once, your feelings about this must be very strong. Don't ignore them.
Talk to your Dad about how you feel. If you can, talk to a therapist about how you feel, your dreams are
telling you that you are upset, pay attention to them, uncover your true feelings and get them out in the
open so you can then get rid of them.
One way to understand your dream better is to write it out, then ask the characters in the dream some
questions. For example, you can ask (in your imagination) the stepmother in your dream why she is killing
you. You can then write out an answer. This is just a fun way to try to get to the bottom of dreams

Guns In Dreams
“I was just a little curious because last night I had a dream about someone driving by me in a red trans
am and pulling a gun on me. My brother said two nights before he had a dream a guy was at a
concession stand, offered him a hot dog, he said no thank you, and kept walking. The guy jumped over
the counter pulling a tommy gun on him. They started fighting until he woke up! He said he told our friend
about it that day, and our friend told him that that was weird because he had a dream someone shot him!!
Does this mean anything??”
The different dreams could mean different things for each of you. The gun can be a phallic
symbol. In your case the fact that you dreamt of a car could be that someone is trying to overpower you
psychologically or sexually and that you are feeling that you have no control of the situation.
The fact that the car is red could be a symbol of passion or anger. The gun can also be a symbol of
control or power and you and your friends maybe feeling powerless in your personal lives.
Try to think what it could be referring to in your lives and think what you can do to get control of the
situation. The fact that your brother dreamt of a hotdog, which is clearly another phallic image, could also
be sexually related. Make sure there isn't anyone you know who has some control in your life and who is
trying to take sexual advantage of you or your friends

Fish In Dreams
“The same night I dreamt about having a gun pulled on me, I also dreamt of fish on two different
occasions in the same night. In the 1st instance, they were big fish, whole and uncooked fish. At some
point I'm walking down some stairs as my mother's walking up. She throws one of the fish at me but it
wasn't a whole fish but just the top part. The fishes mouth was wide open. I woke up yelling, "No" and
kind of waving my hands. Then I dreamt about salmon but not the whole fish. There were many that had
already been cut and cooked. Just hundreds of them.
In my family and in a lot of other ethnic backgrounds, people believe that when you dream of fish,
someone's pregnant. do you agree? Does my mother throwing it at me mean it's someone close to us? if
you can, please let me know. this has been buggin me! thank you so much!!”
The fish symbol has been used for millennia worldwide as a religious symbol associated with the
Pagan Great Mother Goddess. It is the outline of her vulva. The fish symbol was often drawn by
overlapping two very thin crescent moons. One represented the crescent shortly before the new moon;
the other shortly after, when the moon is just visible. It is probably where the idea of the fish being
associated with pregnancy comes from.
The fish is also a religious symbol meaning Christianity.
In China a fish served whole is a symbol of prosperity.
The fish, particularly the salmon is associated with knowledge and intelligence. By eating the salmon it is
believed you gain wisdom and knowledge. Dreaming of your mother could mean your consience is
bothering you about something. You will have to try to figure out what the fish means in your own dream.
Why did it have it's mouth open? Why was she throwing it at you? Was she trying to "throw wisdom at
you". Why was it just the top part of the fish that she gave you? What feelings did you have associated
with it?
Another perspective is the association of a big fish as being a prize or trophy, others have seen fish to
mean life force, or potential. You have whole, complete prizes or potentials within you. When you begin to
think about yourself, you go deeper into your subconscious (walking down stairs). When you are half way
there, you meet your mother- she is the controlling, perhaps frustrated and angry part of yourself. She
throws the cut off fish head at you. You are (she is) throwing the unused, wasted part of your potential,
your life, at yourself. Perhaps you are frustrated with yourself. The open-mouthed fish head is the
demanding, angry, frustrated and wasted potential you have not used--it frightens you.

Houses In Dreams
“I am in a huge and beautiful old mansion of a house. It is immaculate and in very good condition. (I drive
a school bus in an elite area, and love antiques.) The house had at one time been rented by my older
sister and her family. (She has rented and still lives in, mansions.)
The problem is, I know that the house is haunted. I can't believe we are moving to this place, but know it
is temporary. Still, my friends help us to move in. I dread the upper bedrooms. I know that the "red" room
is haunted, but we don't really have to use it. The downstairs blue master bedroom is totally haunted and
has the most enormous closet and bathroom and is wonderful, but I will NOT use the room.
The occurrences finally happen in the kitchen. The room is swirling with invisible demons, and they press
against me, trying to kill me, and I am finally able to ask Jesus to help me. He does, and the evil must
leave us alone, but I know that I need to leave, and only have enough time to get out. I try to gather my
children and leave, but doors slam in my face, and someone is always missing, and I have to search the
house, facing the terror, and finally, finally, we get out of the house, or I wake up terrified.”
Carl Jung talked about recurring dreams he had in which he would discover parts of his house
that he didn't know existed. In that dream the house represented his personality and the new things he
discovered in the house related to new developments in his work.
Houses in dreams usually represent parts of ourselves. It is important that you think about what the
symbols in this dream represent to you. I will give you one interpretation but I caution you, this does not
mean that it is correct because only you know what these symbols really mean.
Your image of yourself is beautiful, immaculate and in very good shape. There might be parts of yourself
that frighten you or haunt you. The red room could represent anger or danger. You might be afraid of your
own anger and know you 'really don't have to use it'.

Being Chased in Dreams

“I am walking down my street and everything is fine, but when I look behind me, there are these 2
creatures or spirits chasing me. (I have no clue what they were.) So naturally I start to run real fast to try
to get away. However when I look behind me again they are catching up. Then they are right behind me
ready to catch me, however just as they reach out for me, I start to fly. and I look back and they are on the
ground just looking at me. Then I wake up............I have had this dream 2 times before.
Second one:
I start to climb a ladder that is leaning on a house. As I get to the top, The ladder falls, and I go with it.
Then that's when I wake up.( But what's weird about this is that I can feel the pain in my dream, and when
I wake up I still feel the pain for a few seconds.) I have had this dream a few times since I was little. I also
want to say, that sometimes when I wake up I am almost falling off my bed, and I get that falling
sensation, so I was thinking maybe something or someone like maybe my guardian angel or something
was warning me or something...I dunno.”
In the first dream, the chase usually represents a feeling of anxiety in the dreamer, you feel
anxious about something going on in your life. The good thing about the dream is that you take control,
you find resources to deal with your predicament and you rise above your problem. Perhaps that is the
message you are trying to tell yourself, rise above, you can handle it.
The second dream seems to be about your climb in life. Houses usually represent yourself, your
personality or your body. Could you be worrying about climbing too high? Are you attempting something
in your life that is making you feel worried , anxious or unbalanced? You seem to be feeling unsteady or
unsafe in your situation and fear falling or failing. Whatever it is that you are attempting, is it causing you
pain in your life in some way or do you anticipate it causing you pain?
The other cause for pain in a dream is an actual physical cause, for example you can dream of pain when
you have to go to the bathroom, or you can dream of pain when you have a sore back. If you feel your
pain might have a physical cause, check with a doctor.
“I dreamed that my family and I were being chased for a very long time and we would hide in many
strange places (ex. stove) to get away. Then I found myself in jail and they gave me a bowl of fruit and the
fruit had holes in it with worms pertruding from it.”
Chasing dreams are usually about fears or anxiety. Perhaps you feel compelled to stay out of
sight. (hiding) You might feel forced to stay in a small hot place (stove) to stay safe. You might feel like
you are in jail, unable to move freely about. The fruit might be a symbol of sustenance or what you require
to live. The fact that it has worms might mean that you feel this sustenance is decaying. Do you have
fears about going about your daily life after Sept.11? This dream might reflect this if you do.
One thing you can do is write out your dream with a new ending. In the new version, turn and face
whatever is chasing you. Imagine what you see and write it down. You can make the monster into
whatever you want, including a cuddly puppy. The puppy can then jump into your arms and you can hug it
or you can use the same imagery of your dream and create another bowl of fruit, this time with fresh,
lovely, clean fruit which you can then eat and become the most powerful person on Earth. Often in
dreams when we get up the courage to turn around and face whoever is chasing us, the monster melts
away and sometimes changes into something comical or silly. The humor immediately breaks the tension
of the dream and you feel an immediate sense of control and power. Re-writing your dream might help
you if you have another one. You might remember while you are running away from the monster that you
are dreaming and you have a new ending, you can then dream the new dream instead.

Pregnancy in Dreams
“I had a dream last night that I was walking thru a baby graveyard looking for a child that I had aborted
years ago. Some graves had headstones but most were just markers. As I was walking, searching, I saw
my ex (the father) also walking thru the graveyard. As we spoke he told me that he always went there
looking too. I've never dreamed of this before. I am married now to another man but when I awoke from
this dream, my wedding rings were off, under my pillow. What do you think this means?????”
The baby graveyard is probably representing the place in your mind or soul where you have
buried your memory of the event. The fact that some graves had stones and others had markers might
show that the ones with gravestones were fully acknowledged and remembered but the others weren't.
The image of your ex is likely just the image that brings out these memories in you. Perhaps on some
level you are grieving for the lost pregnancy. Perhaps you need to acknowledge this past event more in
order to move on in your new life.
I had a dream of having a baby.
Your dream is a very common one and usually represents a new beginning or a new creation in
your life. It is generally very positive and indicates growth in your life!

“I had a dream that I was pregnant, it was so real that I could still remember feeling the baby kicking
inside me, For some reason in the dream we were all focusing on the fact that you could feel her arm.
What is even stranger is that I'm in no way shape or form trying to get pregnant, or worried about being
pregnant. I always remember my dreams and I did a lot of research on them in psychology classes
throughout the years. This is the first dream that has really left me mystified. I would love to hear any
feedback on this.”
Pregnancy often represents new growth in your life, growing creativity. The baby kicking inside
could represent the idea that your creation or creative potential is trying to kick you to get your attention.
Focusing on the arm might be a clue for you. An arm might represent something specific for you. What do
you think of when you think of an arm? Could it represent using the arm to direct or point or does it
represent your creativity? Are you an artist or do you use your arm physically in your hobby or passion
such as writing or sports? You must think about this and try to draw your own meaning from it.

“I have been having nightmares every night for the past month. They won't seem to go away. In one
nightmare I was nine months pregnant and went into false labor, then all of a sudden I was in a bathroom
stall and the person who had gotten me pregnant did not know I was in there and shot a bullet through the
door which hit me in the stomach. What does this mean? (Note: I have never been pregnant.)
I also had a nightmare that a close male friend, who is good friends with my boyfriend was shooting at
me. We get along well, so I don't see where that would come from. I had a dream about large cats, all
different types panthers, leopard, tigers, etc. They were all playing in a yard and a pet kitten was attacked
by one of them. There were guns in this dream as well. I'm not giving much detail because I don't quite
remember everything and it would take forever if I did. These are the main things I remember, the first
nightmare mentioned had me bothered for two days. Please, let me know why you think these nightmares
are occurring and why guns are always present in them.”
Pregnancy often represents a new event about to take place in your life, a new creation of yours
or a rebirth of yourself. False labor might indicate that you are not quite ready for the change. The person
who got you pregnant in this case would be you, since you are the creator of the change. Perhaps you
have accidentally shot yourself (stopped yourself), preventing the change from occurring? Perhaps you
have done this because you are not quite ready?
In the second dream, your friend might represent a friendly, loving part of yourself. Again, you are
shooting at yourself, maybe trying to stop yourself.
In the third dream, cats often represent an independent nature. Large cats might represent the adult part
of yourself. The pet kitten is innocent and playful, this might represent the child in you, vulnerable, playful
and innocent. The innocent in you is being attacked by the stronger, independent part of yourself. You
should think about the symbols of the cats. What do you think of when you think of the large cats? The
theme in your dreams seems to relate to one part of yourself attacking the other. Are you sabotaging
yourself? The part of yourself that you are stopping, is it more innocent and playful? Are you perhaps
trying to become more innocent or playful but are being stopped by the controlling, adult in yourself? Only
you can know for sure if this makes sense.

Teeth in Dreams
“Hello I'am 16 years old and I have been having very bad dreams. Every time I go to sleep I have bad
dreams.
(1)The first dream was about my teeth falling out.
(2)The second was me on a train platform and when I looked up there were skeleton heads looking at me.
(3)The third dream was about my dead grandmother telling me to come with her. She told me to take her
hand and everything would be ok.
(4) Fourth I've been having this re-occuring dream since I was 7 about me in the middle of something. I'm
not sure what it is I think it's trains going past me very fast and I can't move and I'm very scared in the
dream.
(5) Fifth I had a dream that my wrists were slit and bleeding but I didn't know how.
Those are the dreams I've been having ever since I was 7 years old when my cousin died. I have been
seeing a shadow always watching over me. What does all this all mean?”
Thank you for your dreams. It seems as though they all have similar themes. You must analyse
these symbols for yourself but I can tell you what they might mean.
teeth falling out- unable to talk?
skeleton heads - fear of death?
train platform - waiting to go?
wrists bleeding - life force is draining from you
slit wrists - usually self-inflicted

All of the above symbols seem to be about death, fear of death, feeling like you are dying. Is this
a self-inflicted state? Is it possible that the feeling you get from the teeth falling out might be causing you
to feel like you are dying ? Maybe this is about feeling like you are dying emotionally? Have you been
dealing with depression? If not, you should think about what these dreams are trying to tell you. The
dream about your grandmother might be about you looking for a way out or looking for some comfort.
Grandparents can represent comfort and caring. You need to think about the feeling you get when you
think of your grandmother. The fourth dream about not being able to move might suggest that you feel
unable to control or shape your world. It might be you feel caught in the midst of chaos all around you.
If you do feel depressed, find someone to talk to about it. If you can't talk to a professional, talk to a friend,
a sibling, a relative or parent. It is very important that you talk to someone about your feelings, often just
talking can help you get rid of bad thoughts and dreams. The other way is to write it all out in a journal.
Write down everything you are feeling. This will help you to express it and get it off your chest.
Another trick is to re-write your dreams with happy endings. Think about each dream and re-write each
one, changing the events making sure they turn out positive. You can use your imagination to create an
exiting, fun dream world instead of a dark one. Just remember, you are creating these dreams and you
can re-create them too.
Try all of these things but if you are still feeling down, make sure you talk to someone, remember, your
teeth haven't really fallen out!

“I have dreams that all of my teeth are falling and blood is coming down. Or they just fall for no reson, with
no blood or anything falling down but my teeth.. what dose that mean? I also have dreams about my ex-
boyfriend and I having sex what does that mean?”
Teeth dreams are very common and usually relate to a person's self image. You might view
yourself as looking bad. The blood often represents your life force, so with the blood coming down, you
might feel like you are sufferring emotionally or losing your zest for life. Having dreams about your ex
might simply be wishful dreaming. The other possibility is that you are having dreams of sex because you
are physically desiring sex and so you make that desire into a dream.

“Last night I had a dream all my teeth fell out I have never had a dream like this before and was
wondering if anyone could shed some light on it for me! What does it mean??”
It is interesting that you have dreamt this, you are the second person this week to have this same
dream. Teeth are one of those symbols that seems to be very common. When you think of teeth, it is a
part of you that is exposed, that is seen by the public, just like your public image. This picture of teeth
falling out brings certain feelings up. Teeth falling out could give a feeling of insecurity, or vulnerability or
weakness. Perhaps you feel that you have been seen as vulnerable by others. Think about the image.
Write down how it makes you feel. Where in your life have you been feeling that same emotion? That
might give you some clues.

“Please send me some information or give me some links regarding teeth falling out. It is a recurring
dream that has been with me for more than 10 years.”
Dreaming of teeth is a very common dream. Often teeth in dreams are related to words or verbal
behavior. This symbol could be different for you personally though. Sometimes teeth might represent
public image or how you are seen by others. So teeth falling out might represent careless words being
spoken that might be harmful to yourself and others and that might reflect badly on you. The message is
usually a warning to correct this practice.

Sex and Dreams

Sex has always been a big part of dream content for both men and women. One hundred years ago
Sigmund Freud concluded that almost all dreams represented some form of sexual repression. At that
time sex was repressed culturally and as a result it might have been expressed more frequently by
individuals in their dreams.
Freuds' ideas are revealed in the book, The Dream in Primitive Cultures. Freud believed that anything
that was in the form of a container was a symbol for the vagina. Some of the symbols representing the
vagina were a box, bowl, a room or a tunnel.
Similarly, he believed that anything oblong or suggestive of penetration would represent the penis.
Examples would be sticks, knives, pencils and nail files (due to the up and down rubbing). The sex act for
Freud was any action in a dream reflecting up and down motion such as walking up and down stairs and
ladders.
Some of Freud's ideas about sex in dreams have been disputed while others remain in use today.
Other cultures of the past have had interesting and unique views on sex in dreams. Jill Morris, in her book
The Dream Workbook, described the beliefs of two native cultures.
The Iroquois believed in acting out dream content in real life. They believed that it was necessary to
reenact it in order to alleviate physical and psychic distress. They believed it was very important to gratify
the soul's desire either literally or symbolically. It was therefore not unheard of for a male, after dreaming
of a group orgy to request that his dream be acted out with the help of the tribe.
Another native culture that valued dreams is called the Senoi. This tribe was discovered in the
mountainous jungles of Malaysia. They had a dream based culture in which dreams played a huge role.
The Senoi embraced love and sex in their dreams. Jill Morris writes, " When the Senoi had pleasurable,
sexual dreams, they were taught to move toward the loving objects and the enjoy them to the fullest. They
were also encouraged to have orgasms in their dreams. It didn't matter who or what the loving object was,
it could be a relative, a friend's spouse, an animal or an inanimate object. After reaching orgasm, the
dreamer would ask the dream lover for a gift."
The Senoi (as do some of today's dream researchers) believed that all dream images were parts of the
self and needed to be integrated and loved. The idea was not to censor yourself because of the object(s)
of your desire. There was no possibility of incest or promiscuity because they were all parts of the
individual self.
Sexual dream content has been studied in Lucid dreaming. Lucid dreaming is defined as those dreams in
which we are conscious of dreaming. In Stephen LaBerge's book, Lucid Dreaming, he describes research
he conducted where vaginal and penile probes were attached to lucid dreamers in order to detect
orgasm.
Women reported orgasm in lucid dreams much more frequently than men even though men reported
having more dreams about sex overall. Patricia Garfield, who was quoted in LaBerge's book reported that
half of her lucid dreams had sexual content and the other half ended in orgasm. LeBerge reported that ,
"...with a totality of self that is only sometimes felt in the waking state she found herself 'bursting into soul
and body-shaking explosions.'"
The Stephen Laberge research was only conducted on a few people but both sexes identified the sex
they had in dreams as feeling exactly the same as it did in real life. Physiologically sex in dreams also
caused the same reactions to the body as sex in real life. Respiration increased, blood flow increased,
and muscles contracted.
Like analyzing regular dreams, studying your sex dreams can also give you great insight into your existing
sexual relationships. Your sex dream may have layers of meaning. It might reflect your body's need and
desire for sex but at the same time, aspects of the dream might have deeper meaning as well.
Perhaps the most revealing thing to think about when remembering your sex dreams is the emotion you
feel or felt upon wakening. Forgotten traumatic memories of real life events can sometimes be trying to
get to the surface in the form of dreams or nightmares. If you have a repetitive, distressing dream that you
think might be serious, it would be best to discuss it with a professional therapist.

Lucid Dreaming
The other night I experienced a lucid dream. In the dream I was sitting gazing into our fish aquarium. I
peered in closely, examining our spotted suckerfish. I often gaze at him or her because he never moves
much in the daytime. I watch him to see if he is O.K. As I stared at him, suddenly I noticed there were two
more suckerfish! They were identical to the original.
At first I was startled and shocked, surprised that there were more. Then I wondered where they could
have come from. As I pondered this I abruptly realized that I must be dreaming! "Of course!" I said. That
explains this. I jumped up and looked around. There were other people in this dream with me. I had a
husband, a son and a dog. Before looking at the fish, I had been going along, living my daily life in a
mundane fashion. The last thing I had remembered doing was feeding the dog and kissing my little boy
on the head while he played on the kitchen floor.
As I looked at these people, I realized it wasn't my real husband or either of my real children-I excitedly
blurted out at them that we were all dreaming. My husband looked at me perplexed. I yelled again "WE
ARE DREAMING!!!" As I became even more self-conscious, I announced that I could test my theory by
flying.
If this really was a dream, I should be able to fly! So I jumped up and flew to the ceiling. I can still see the
look on that man's face as he watched me float up to the ceiling. Unfortunately, as I watched the fear and
doubt on his face, I began to fall. I sank all the way back down and landed with a thud on the floor and fell
down hard. When that happened, I began to doubt my own perception and lost my awareness as I fell
back into a regular dream state. Before waking from the dream, I remember gazing at my hands and
noticing that they were an odd shape.
The above is an example of lucid dreaming. Lucid dreaming is the state of being conscious in your
dreams. You are aware that you are dreaming, while dreaming. If you have ever had it happen to you
spontaneously, you understand how exciting it is, the heart races with excitement at your prospects.
Gazing at something in your home or on your body, such as your hands during your regular workday is a
technique used by dream researchers to induce lucid dreaming. Another technique is to continually ask
yourself throughout the day if you are dreaming. If you develop these habits, if you happen to be in a
dream state while looking at your hands, you will be tipped off when your hands look odd. On another
occasion just before becoming lucid, I noticed that my kitchen cupboards were the wrong color, which
tipped me off. The duplicated fish are another example.
Stephen LaBerge the pioneer of lucid dreaming research suggests that once you can become lucid, there
is no limit to what your imagination can create in a dream. It truly is amazing, from flying, to inventing, to
art. You can even try out things you've always wanted to try and see what it is like. It has been
discovered, and my experience supports this, that when you do become lucid, it is extremely difficult to
stay that way. Research has shown though that the more you do it, the better at it you get and the better
your control is. Often a few seconds of lucidity is all that is manageable. It is still a thrilling experience.
A person who is experienced at lucid dreaming can actually set up scenarios with which to learn or solve
problems in their lives. Did you want to try something but were afraid of injury or expenses? How about
downhill skiing or asking your boss for a raise?
Stephen LaBerge also sees lucid dreaming as a solution to high anxiety dreams or nightmares. He points
out that lucidity in the midst of a nightmare enables a person to gain control of the situation and redirect
the circumstances to their liking thereby facing the situation creatively. He has found this helpful with
children's nightmares as well.
A technique developed by Stephen LaBerge is to count to your self as you fall asleep: "one, I'm dreaming,
two, I'm dreaming, three, I'm dreaming etc. Until by the time you reach 48, I'm dreaming, you really are
dreaming. Even though there are various techniques to help you become lucid in your dreams, he
believes that the simple intention of wanting to become lucid is often enough to make it happen.
Science has only just begun to examine the possibilities of the phenomenon of lucid dreaming. Some
researchers view it as an evolutionary development of our species and our consciousness expanding.
Whether or not we are evolving or have always had this ability, we certainly are not taking advantage of
all it has to offer. If we could become more disciplined with our dream work we would have many more
avenues with which to learn and grow